Catalyst
by TheBlackCorvid
Summary: Sometimes to bring two people together you need something to trigger it first, a Catalyst...(Updated with 2nd Chapter and pairing clue...)
1. Chapter 1

Catalyst

By

Black Corvid

* * *

Disclaimer: 

Don't own Teen Titans I just borrowed them for this little tale of mine…

You guys can flame me for my bad grammar or silly mistakes cause I didn't have anyone beta this for me, but not for the pairing please…not going to say what it is right now for it spoils the fun but it'd become more evident in later chapters…

Anyway leave me a comment after reading…

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

Obsession can be explained as an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone. And to the Teen Titans it was their leader  
Robin, who had an obsession with a certain masked villain, a villain named Slade. 

Chase after chase, battle after battle Robin had always thought that he had gotten the better of him the last time they met but after a short lived hiatus of calm he would catch wind of his evil deeds once more lingering over his town.

Robin's need to defeat Slade was at first confined to in the beginning to only getting rid of the 'bad guy' but as time wore on it soon went beyond that. Robin had tried almost everything he knew to try and defeat him and even went as far as creating a separate identity to trick him.

But nothing seemed to work for Slade just kept on coming back to haunt him…

Everyone single one of the Titans could see how their leader was overly obsessing over him but yet no one could seem to come up with a way of telling it right to his face. The hard part of that deal was making him listen, which sadly he never did.

And on one particular night as they rushed off to battle the elements of evil Robin would get a grim reminder of that fact thrown right in his face.

It wasn't even a crime that needed all of their attention even, for any single member of Titans would suffice in this case. It was just a very poor planned out robbery in one of the local banks and the Titans didn't break a sweat on the job.

Robin was herding the last member of the trio of would be bank robbers over to the police van after cuffing him and just then at the corner of his eye he saw a hint of orangey black metallic paint and it was coming from someone that was standing high above the opposite building looking down on him.

"Slade…!" he shouted and totally forgot what was at hand and ran off to the building.

And in that spilt second of his loss of concentration the robber had somehow managed to swipe a bird-a-rang from his utility belt without Robin noticing. He then thinking that it was maybe a hacksaw of some sort due to its sharp shiny edges began to saw at the chains of his birdcuffs.

Raven who had been nearest to Robin then quickly flew over to the unguarded robber to assume custody over him but just as she landed beside him she caught sight of what he was doing but it was too late.

Robin by then had ran all the way up to top of the building only to find it empty and as he looked down to the street below him a loud explosion threw him off the edge and back onto the roof.

As the plume of black smoke rose before him to the heavens Robin groggily got up and rubbed his head.

"What happened…?" he asked no one in particular as he slowly got up to his feet.

"Raven! Are you okay?" as Cyborg's shouts reached his ears clearly even from below.

"What's going on down there?" Robin thought out loudly.

Robin then ran back to the edge of the roof and slowly digested what he saw underneath him.

Below him on the street stood Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire hovering over the fallen figure of Raven who had landed some distance back from a small crater that had been freshly created on the asphalt.

Robin spun around and ran back down with all the speed his feet could muster.

And when he arrived all he could see were the paramedics who were luckily near by treating the injured Titan.

"What happened here!" asked Robin authoritatively.

"Dunno…man all I saw was Raven landing beside the last bank robber and then boom…" answered Beast Boy, his hands motioning in a large circular motion.

* * *

Robin didn't even get the chance to counter ask Beast Boy for he suddenly found himself forcefully dragged over by a very large mechanical hand over to the spot where the explosion had taken place. 

"I found this…" uttered Cyborg's rather harsh voice as he handed or rather pushed to Robin a police evidence bag.

Robin curiously studied the contents and his eyes grew wide in disbelief, it was a broken piece of his exploding birdrang, the worst was still to come for Robin for that same piece of his unique weaponry was also caked with semi-dried blood.

In Jump City General Hospital the other Titans were huddled outside an emergency room while in the inside a group of doctors began to work on her right away. Only one member of the team was inauspiciously absent…

Robin was still at the site of the bank robbery, he couldn't believe it at first but as he dug into his belt he sadly found one of his birdrangs had indeed gone missing. And he distinctly remembered not using one that particular afternoon, all he did was open the compartment up to take out a pair of birdcuffs..

Behind him two policemen who were doing a investigation into the explosion were talking, "Turns out that the guy that got blown to bits was actually quite the master pickpocket…guess he wasn't making enough from picking pockets for him to graduate to bank robbery."

"Must have been real good cause he managed to swipe one of Robin's birdrangs right under his nose…"

Robin's mouth started to trail a little stream of blood from his hard biting down on his lower lips before walking away.

Raven wasn't really hurt as bad she had looked her wounds were slowly healing by themselves but still just to be on the safe side the hospital had admitted her into a ward for overnight observation.

And when she finally woke up she did so with a very bad headache and not to mention fatigue. Her self-healing was taking a lot out of her thus her long bout of unconsciousness.

Just as her eyes focused in around her surroundings she noticed a familiar spiky haired shadowy figure walking away from her bed.

"Robin…?"

* * *

It was close to midnight and Robin had planned to make this an easy apology and also goodbye in the form of letter that was in his hand and not a face-to-face kind of thing… 

"Hey there Raven…" he said in a hushed voice.

The room was dark and being adjusted to the condition Raven could easily make out that he wasn't wearing his tri-colored uniform. Instead all she could make out were the white parts of his mask.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"Hospital…"

The memories then slowly filtered into her head from the afternoon and Raven paled at the memory.

"Robin…what about that robber is he okay? He had one of your bird-a-rangs in his hands…then it went all white then black…"

All she got from him was silence…

"Robin…?"

"He's…dead…" came his heavy toned reply.

Robin had spent the whole afternoon and evening riding his R-cycle without direction and when he did stop he found himself right at the city limits. While still on the cycle he then gave a very loud cry of anguish to the skies above him.

"Dead…? How?" wondered Raven, she had tried to take away the implement from the robber's hand but the next thing she knew it suddenly flashed brightly.

Robin still standing in the darkened room exhaled a labored breath.

Raven then slowly began to piece things together, "Robin…how did he manage to get hold of one of your bird-a-rangs anyway? It isn't as if you gave him one yourself…" her voice was a little sarcastic but that was to be expected from her.

He cringed at her question in the dim room.

"Look I just want to say I'm sorry for my recklessness…and for getting you hurt. Don't worry it isn't going to happen ever again…" he skittishly said to her.

Raven didn't particularly like the last part of what he had said to her, "Robin…what do you mean by that?"

No response came and it was then did she realize that he wasn't inside the room with her anymore…only a crumbled letter laid in the nearby wastebasket.

His head was filled with a lot of things that particular cold night as he walked out of the hospital, he had finally decided to take a timeout and think about the things that had happened and in particular his situation with Slade.

And to Robin it wasn't looking too good for him…he had admitted to himself that he had messed up big time with his overly obsessive nature in capturing or getting rid of Slade. Not only did he abandoned his teammates he also abandoned his responsibilities not only being the leader of the Titans but to the city he swore to protect.

"I should have known better…" Robin cursed to himself as he got onto his black Ducati.

Looking back over his shoulders to the room where he had left her, Robin sat down onto the parked machine and picked up his helmet but before he wore it his fingers lingered around the area if his eyes and felt the rough surface of his mask.

And with one swift action he tore off the mask that was usually encasing his eyes and let it slip off his hand and as it floated into the night he sped off.

Robin's or now Richard's without the mask mind was made up already, after he had screamed out all his frustration he knew what he had to do and that was to give up the Titans for a while or maybe forever if it needed to come to that.

He realized that if it had been any other Titan other then Raven who had the gift of healing then things could have been much worst. But then again it was wasn't it? A man had lost his life for his mistake a man was killed.

Even if he was a criminal he was still a human being and Robin had never ever killed anyone before no matter how deserving. People would say that it was the robber's own mistake but he knew better.

* * *

He had indeed left one of the pouches of his utility belt wide open whilst he was getting his birdcuffs and well the rest of the story is self-explanatory. It was his mistake his own folly that led to the man's death and Robin wasn't handling it well. 

Robin knew that if anyone of the Titans were to have seen him leaving wearing only a pair of black racing leathers instead of his usual uniform then he would arouse their suspicions. And that was why he was the only one in the T-Tower…everyone else was still at the hospital. Robin wanted to leave without telling anyone bar for the note that he had left on the kitchen counter.

He then walked down to the garage and in particular to his own storage area. Each Titan had been given a small storeroom of sorts to store stuff that they didn't need or too personal to show and for Robin it held inside the gift he had received as Richard Grayson from a Bruce Wayne a year back or so for his 16th birthday, a black Ducati sportsbike.

'It's safer that way…safer for all of them that I'm gone…'

And even if he had to vanquish Slade by himself as Richard Grayson then he would do so without hurting anyone else but himself.

It was selfish but it was the only way, he had now become a liability to his team and he couldn't have him to be their downfall.

Raven had tried to get back up but her body's self healing process had taken a lot out of her and as she did try to get up of the bed the blinding headache that ensued threw her back down onto the soft bedding.

And as her eyes closed onto themselves her last thought was that of foreboding…

When she reopened them Raven slowly focused in onto a rather pensive face of the resident Tamaranian.

"Friend Raven, are you feeling healthy this morning…?" wondered a less then cherry sounding Starfire.

Taking a slow ascend this time out of her bed to sit up Raven groaned out that she'd live, barely.

"That's good to hear…" interjected Cyborg's voice and that was when she then noticed how his facial expression was one of irritancy and also worry as he sat down on the chair beside her bed.

In fact you didn't need to have the ability to read people's minds to see how troubled the atmosphere in the room was that morning.

"Who just died?" droned Raven.

* * *

No one spoke. 

"Could someone in this room have the decency to tell me what's going on or do I have to probe each of your minds?" she said out to her friends sounding overly irritated.

Richard was riding on the highway out of Jump City headed for Gotham hoping that a few words from his mentor would clear his head up. But right now his head was filled with rather irritated thoughts of the tailgater who not only been tailgating him for a whole two miles but he had his headlights switched on high.

He had slowed down even to allow the car to pass him by but instead it slowed down as well content with being behind him.

'What is going on with that guy…?' Richard wondered as he took a quick look behind his left shoulder.

The bright lights made it hard for him to see who was driving and just as he round a curve Richard's bike suddenly fished tailed and as he was thrown out of his vehicle a beam of some sort shot out and scored a direct hit on his body.

All he could see next was nothing but black.

Instead of talking a note was produced by Cyborg and he handed it to her. Raven took it and began to read its contents.

'Guys, Sorry but I'm leaving the team. Robin.'

To her his written words didn't even make up a proper note, in fact it didn't even make a proper goodbye.

"Is this for real?" Raven wondered over to Cyborg, she couldn't be sure if this was a joke or something.

"He's serious…he left behind all his costumes, all his equipment heck he even left the R-cycle. The only things he took were the few clothes he had and the bike that he had stashed in his personal area." Cyborg responded with some form of disbelief.

"Friend Robin didn't even say farewell to me…" Starfire whispered out with a tone of voice that was tainted with sadness.

"Where's Beast Boy?" she then asked after noticing the absence of the changeling.

"He's out roaming the city trying to look for Robin…"

After six months of searching all the remaining Titans had managed to come up with was a slightly battered black Dugati that was resting in the evidence room below them and a whole string of leads, which were all dead ends.

* * *

Peculiarly in those six months except for petty crimes it seemed like all the 'heavy hitters' of crime around Jump City had vanished. They had yet to catch a single glimpse of their regular super villains doing anything of late. 

By the second week Raven who had been assigned the task of going through Robin's vapor trail, which zigzagged across the entire city with a fine toothcomb, was feeling dead tired.

And all she could came up with nothing more then a torn up business card from a Wayne Industries, the bottom half actually. From whom it was from was still a mystery.

That miniature clue came around only after clearing almost a ton of Slade related paraphernalia from Robin's personal storage area in the garage, searching his room was out of the question as it was locked up more securely then Fort Knox.

Out of pure curiosity Raven after a long two week wait flew over to Wayne Industries Headquarters to try and see if she could come up with anything.

To say that she was welcomed into the building with open arms was an understatement, a severe one. It took her almost two days of camping out by the main entrance, 24 pieces of broken tinted window glass, 42 shattered light bulbs and a rather innocent piece of modern art that had been placed outside of the building which exploded into bits of rubble was she then allowed to step foot into the building.

And that feat was only achieved by accident, for on the second day she was still trying to convince the two groups of security guards out by the main lobby to allow her to at least ask around to see if anyone knew of Robin.

After the umpteenth that Raven was thrown out of the building her emotions got the better of her and a glass shattered somewhere in front of her, the glass so happened to be the windscreen of the car that Bruce Wayne had arrived in that morning.

"Would you like to have something to drink?" asked a voice.

"Herbal tea would be a good start…" gruffed Raven, her hands crossed over her chest, with a raised eyebrow, "One cup of herbal tea and my usual please, thanks Linda."

"Your one of the Teen Titans aren't you?" inquired the well-dressed man in front of her.

Raven pulled her hood even lower to her hide her face as she noticed how the man in front of her was trying to peer into the darkness created by it.

"Look I'm not here to sign any autographs or pose for pictures…I'm here to ask if anyone here in this godforsaken company has been in contact with Robin lately…"

Bruce then thanked his secretary for passing over to him his usual cup of black coffee before responding, "Hmmm…Robin? Isn't he one of the Titans as well?"

"You're a regular Einstein…" she shot back as she accepted her cup of tea.

'My apprentice sure has weird choices of allies…' he thought soundly.

"Actually…if you want to ask about Robin the best person to ask over here would be Batman. He was his understudy for a while if the rumors in the press are to be trusted…"

Raven then put down her cup of tea rather disappointed that she could drink any and was starting to leave the office when Bruce called out to her, "Miss where do you think your going?"

"I'm going to look for this Batman person…the faster I can find him the faster I can leave this city."

"And how are you going to do that?" enquired the man.

"Well…if Robin studied under this Batman guy then their probably both way overly obsessive about their crime fighting…I'd just go out to the city and make some innocent trouble and he'd come to me. So if you don't mind me I have a few non-essential things to find and blow up…" and flew out of his office leaving a broken window as a parting gift.

Bruce Wayne sat there with his cup of coffee midway up to his mouth and pushed down a sweat drop, 'I am not overly obsessive…'

Raven was in luck as she soon found an abandoned building around the city that was scheduled to be demolished in a few days. After she had made sure that it was empty Raven now on the roof decided that she might as well start creating something noticeable to flush this Batman by out.

And just as her hands glowed black with energy and just as she was about to chant her famous incantation, "I wouldn't do that if I were you missy…" interrupted a voice.

A figure in black stood beside her and as she jumped back defensively, "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Batman…"

* * *

Raven found Batman to be no better a source of clues to Robin's current whereabouts then all the other leads but what she did find out was that she now knew where Robin had gotten a few of his traits from.

And so after six months of searching the Titans were still no closer to finding Robin then they were since the first day he had disappeared.

One cool night while Raven with her hood down was up on the roof of the tower meditating she suddenly felt as if she was being watched. She opened her left eye and figured that it was probably Beast Boy trying to pull a prank on her but after a few minutes of nothing she soon continued into her meditation.

And when she was just about to reach calm she felt the presence of someone watching her again.

This time Raven went on the defensive and stood up pulling back her hood over her head and looked around the roof. After finding no one after a long search she started to get irritated.

She mentally scanned the area and found nothing as well, 'I need to maybe cut down on the tea…?'

Just as Raven was about to make her way back…

'Going inside so soon? It's a rather wonderful peaceful night…' said a voice unexpectedly inside her head.

Raven quickly turned around and scanned the rooftop visually again trying to find this person but she still couldn't see anyone.

'Don't be alarmed for I mean you no harm.'

Raven was pensive but figured that if this person had the ability to speak to her mind then he might be listening to her reply as well.

'Get out of my head…before I kick you out!'

'Aren't you the bit curious to who I am?'

Raven tried to block the voice out but found that it was rather hard.

'Curiosity killed the cat…they say.' replied Raven coldly.

'Well you're not a cat as far as I can see...' laughed the voice lightly.

Raven's patience ran out just then, "Alright you…why don't you just show yourself so I can kick your sorry little butt…" she yelled out as the sounds of a startled Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg who were in the common area echoed below her.

The other members of the Teen Titans had been watching some cartoons downstairs when all of a sudden their big screen TV suddenly cracked before blowing up releasing a large plume of black smoke.

Silence.

Raven was now officially pissed off and as she hovered lightly above the roof her hands glowing with energy…

"There's no need for hostilities…" said a voice to her far right.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven yelled out loud as she shot two orbs of power right at the voice's direction.

Raven stood back to see the results of her work, which usually resulted in a loud blast, but instead all she saw were how her power blasts were being contained in the hands of a floating figure that looked very familiar.

Of course the figure looked familiar to Raven for as he floated closer and closer to her. Raven had noted how much he looked liked her.

"I think these belong to you?" as the figure held the suspended blast of dark power out for her to see.

Raven was speechless no one had ever done that before.

After a minute of silence, "Since you obviously don't want them back I guess it's best to harness them into something better…" he pondered out openly.

And in an instant the two black orbs were transformed into two birds with feathers as black as the night and as black as the color of his cloak.

The birds then flew off from his hands and 'cawed' loudly before disappearing into the night.

Raven stood there before the figure standing a few feet in front of her. She felt as if she was looking into a mirror for the figure standing before her had the same cloak as she was. Only difference was that while hers was shade of purple, his was a plain black.

Even down to the facial expression or lack of it as they both wore their hoods down over their faces were identical.

"Who are you…?" asked Raven softly breaking the silence between them.

"Who do you want me to be?" he asked her in return.

"I'm asking the questions here…" she voiced back in her normal, monotonous tone.

"And so am I…Raven." he replied her calmly in mono.

Raven's anger was getting close to boiling over again but decided against it, "If you're some form of imitation then I'm not flattered." she hissed at him.

He simply snickered at her well taken into consideration retort and pulled down the hood that had been covering his face…

* * *

End of Chapter 1. 


	2. Chapter 2

Don't own Teen Titans…

And well I guess the pairing is still pretty far off but this is a clue…it isn't a Star and Robin fic…

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

Raven wasn't the kind of girl who would faint over seeing a boy's face but when she opened her eyes a little much later she found herself resting on the couch in the Tower's common room and she was staring up at three pairs of rather wide blinking eyes.

She immediately shot up and looked around, "Where has he gone to?"

The trio that had surrounded her gave her and each of themselves quizzical stares.

"Who ya' talking abut Rae?" inquired Beast Boy.

'Was it a dream? Did I dream it?' Raven asked herself.

"Oh by the way Rae…" Cyborg then pushed something soft into her left hand, "I found this stuck in your hair…"

Raven's eyes widen as she saw what Cyborg had put into her hands, it was a feather as black as she could imagine the color could ever go.

"Hey Raven, I know you're named after a black bird but since when you started spouting feathers…?" joked a certain green skinned team member.

Cyborg and Starfire then started to back away a little as Raven eyes started to glare severely at the doomed party.

Back in her room Raven sat down on her bed and studied the feather, she was a jumble of emotions and that meant she had to visit them herself to get some answers.

After a few minutes in Nevermore, Raven started walking and was surprised to find that none of her emotions had attacked her.

'Usually by now Happy would be bouncing around me…' she wondered to herself.

And just as she walked over to the other side of an upside down range of canyon she soon found the reason as to why her other emotions were surprisingly absent.

"So who are you waiting for…?" chirped Happy.

"Raven…"

"I'm…Raven…so…are you waiting for…me?" stuttered Shy beside the figure.

"Not exactly, we're a part of Raven's one true self but then again you can make that statement as it isn't far from the truth." Intelligence added behind Shy's shoulders.

Raven quickly walked over to her grouped together emotions and saw the same person who she had seen earlier.

"It's you!" she gasped.

All her emotions then looked at her and then back to the hooded figure.

"Sorry to have scared you like that just now…" the figure apologized as he pushed his hood back, "I didn't mean too…"

With his face now open for all of them to see one by one as each of Raven's emotions took in the face of the boy standing before them and each one slowly made their way to the floor in an unconscious state.

"Is it me or do I seem to have that effect on you?"

Raven then grabbed the boy's hand and dragged him over to a spot where they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Look here…what are you doing in my head? And how did you use my mirror? Oh my god! You even went into my room!" shouted Raven out to him in one long breath.

"One question at a time…but to answer you one, I'm not doing anything to your head, I'm just visiting it. Two, I didn't use your mirror I just walked in and lastly I've never been into your room. Happy?"

Raven would have strangled him right there and then if she wasn't to busy suppressing the urge to stare longingly at the young man's beautiful slender face.

The young man's face was as pale as hers was and his medium length hair was neatly combed back behind his ears. He was just a little taller then she was and he wore almost identical costume to hers.

Instead of a purple cloak he wore a black one and well his leotard was just so dangerously formed fitting to his frame that Raven had to give it a second look, unconsciously.

But what Raven couldn't help but just gaze at were his eyes, she found that she could easily get lost by just looking into them. She could look into them and see nothing but a vast whirlpool of black mesmerizing her to just stare at them like a moth to a flame.

"Are you done?" his voice broke her out of her little revere.

"Huh?"

* * *

"Are you done staring at me as if I have something stuck on my face?" he asked her.

Shaking some sense into herself Raven backed away a little from the youth, "Look what are you doing here anyway? This is my mind not some playground…"

"Full of questions today aren't we?"

Raven shot him a 'don't even go there' look.

"Look I just came to make sure if it was true…"

"True what's true?"

"That there was another survivor from Azarath…"

"Survivor…? Look I don't know what you're trying to pull here buddy but your not going to pull a fast one on me…" Raven warned him.

"Israfel." He interjected.

"Huh?"

"My name is Israfel, and you must be Raven."

Raven stood there not believing what she had just heard. For if what this 'Israfel' person said is true then she wasn't the only Azarathian left.

"If this is some sick joke, Israfel I'd swear that you won't live to see the sun rise…" she seethed.

Coolly returning her stare, "I assure you Raven that I'm not joking to you on this matter but if you do not believe me then maybe I can prove to you that I am really who I say I am…"

Raven crossed her arms and stood there as if allowing him to continue, "You once had a nursemaid named Gayla. She was probably the closest thing you had to a real…"

"Enough!" yelled Raven, putting her left hand up to his face.

Beneath the pair a whole lot of explosions were going inside the Tower which was sending the Titans into various stages of running and dodging around the common room.

They sort of figured that since Raven did not do anything to Beast boy right there and then this was the aftermath of her pent up emotions.

"How do you know this…" snarled Raven as she inched closer to him, her violet eyes trying to find some point of focus in his black ones.

"I was raised by the disciples of Temple Azarath for many years ever since I was young. Later I sort of became their protector since it is in their beliefs not to fight so they chose me to do their battles for them. They thought me all I know from skills of fighting to the way on how to use my powers effectively."

Raven had her doubts about his story but some part of her wanted to believe him.

'He knows of Gayla and since I've told no one of her his story has to hold some truth to it…' she mused.

"How did you come to be on Earth?" Raven asked once more, this time in a calmer voice.

"I'm not so sure of all the details but all I could remember was the disciples pushing me into this portal they had opened and I when came to I found myself in some unknown dimension, this dimension. And that's what I've been doing for some time now traveling between places hoping to find survivors from Azarath."

Somewhere behind the duo hidden behind a well placed rock formation a small discussion of sorts was taking place. Intelligence, Suspicion and Happy were having a small debate to see which emotion would win. But sadly for Happy she was losing to a two to one majority.

Raven wanted to trust Israfel but her nature was preventing her from doing so.

"So how did you find me? Did someone ask you to come here? Did someone send you to come after me?" she asked him, her voice growing louder in volume.

* * *

The black cloaked boy snickered, "Paranoid aren't you? No one asked me to come here really, I arrived here in Jump City barely a week ago and while I walking along I saw your images flashing across the news and my investigations lead me to here…"

"So you found me…big deal…all I want is for you to get out of…" a loud sound echoing around caught her in mid sentence.

It seemed like after a six months hiatus the members of H.I.V.E were back in business and their target this time around was the train station where an army train carrying their newest weapon from their R&D research labs had been scheduled to make a short stop.

As usual the three H.I.V.E members had figured that they were about to get away cleanly when the Titans would show up and spoil their victory.

With the Titans short of two members at the moment each they seemed to have a handful with their perspective opponents. Beast Boy was battling Gizmo while Cyborg was wrestling Mammoth somewhere else. And Jinx was having a short game of dodge ball with Starfire.

Each girl was skillfully avoiding each other's thrown spells/blast that just seemed to go on and on. And just when Jinx had jumped out of the path of one of Starfire's blast she was suddenly blown away by a surprised blast from the late arriving Raven.

"Friend Raven, I am pleased to see that you have arrived to participate in battle. What had delayed you?" just as she finished saying her sentence Starfire fired off another blast to the H.I.V.E sorceress.

Raven did the same but didn't answer Starfire's question, she wasn't in the mood to tell her about her little bewildering conversation Israfel. So she did the next best thing and vented her confusions and frustrations on a certain pinked haired villainess.

After a five minute tag-team effort from both Starfire and Raven Jinx was soon put out of commission but just as they finished with her they saw or rather heard the loud shrill of a yell that emanated from the flying through the air figure of one Beast Boy.

While he was flying past the two girls, "Wouldn't mind some helppppppppp….crash" he managed to say out to them before crashing into an empty unused train coach.

Just as they were about to confront Gizmo Cyborg suddenly crashed right before them and moaned out, "Is it me…or have they improved slightly…?"

Raven gave Starfire a quick look before saying out, "I'd take Mammoth, you take Gizmo…" She didn't even leave Starfire room to object as she quickly flew off to battle the large overgrown furball.

Even Raven had to admit that Mammoth had improved somewhat in his overall skills for she was finding it quite the task to disable him. And while she was too busy handling Mammoth she didn't notice how the others had fallen.

Jinx had managed to escape from the steel coach that Raven had temporary imprisoned her in and had ambushed Starfire who was helping Beast Boy fight off Gizmo. And with Starfire trapped in a bubble trying hard to escape she made little work of the changeling who was outnumbered.

And once Beast Boy was seeing stars around his head the two made their way over to Cyborg who then shorted circuited when he was hit by a blast from Gizmo's circuitry immobilizer gun.

'This doesn't look good…" Raven mumbled to herself under her hood.

She was as they say 'had her back against the proverbial wall' with the three members of H.I.V.E ganging up on her. She was all that was left standing between the army train and the trio that was advancing on her.

"It's now down to you alone, your friends aren't here to help you anymore…" said the trio simultaneously.

Raven immediately recognized the voice that had spoken to her instead of their normal voices, "Slade…"

And just as they were about to attack her a loud blast went off right in front of the advancing trio. The blast was so powerful that even blew her right off her feet and had thrown her a good 3 feet back from where she had stood. She had never felt a blast that huge before in her entire life…

When the dust from the blast had cleared Raven with her hood having fallen back behind her during her fall found a familiar figure hovering right in front of her, his cloak was moving around him as if it had a life on its own.

"Three on one isn't exactly what I call fair, and I'm sorry if I overdid it with that blast." he said out to Raven while holding out his right hand for her.

* * *

Raven sort of took accepted his hand at first but when she was up on her feet she quickly pushed it away, "Reckless…" while she mumbled the rest of what she had intended to say.

Pulling down his hood, "Hey I said I was sorry, not need to call me names…"

"Hey what happened…?" said a pained voice.

Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx who had taken the full brunt of the energy blast groggily made their way out of the mess of smashed up coaches, compartments and trains and looked around them.

"Hey what are we doing here?" wondered Gizmo, in his own voice.

Jinx was having a Mammoth sized headache as she dug her way out and screamed out when she saw the state of her hands, "ARGH! MY MANICURE'S RUNIED!"

Both Israfel and Raven took notice of the shout and looked over to see the H.I.V.E members coming around.

"I'm so going to make them pay…!" rumbled Jinx as she stomped her way forwards intent on inflicting a huge number of vexes so painful onto Raven whom she initially thought had thrown that blast.

But then halfway there she stopped and suddenly instead of having eyes glowing with rage she had pink hearts throbbing in them instead.

"Who's that cute handsome boy…" she swooned after catching sight of the never seen before boy standing beside Raven.

Raven pulling her hood over her face, "Look I don't need your help…I can handle this by myself. So if you'd excuse me I have a job to do…" she said rudely as she strolled past Israfel.

Israfel putting lifted his hood over as well, "Oh no your not, why don't I handle the two boys while you take care of the pink haired one."

"Just who do you think you are ordering me around…!" she immediately spat back at him.

"Look if you want I'm more then willing to switch assignments with you…how about I take the girl and you take on the other two?" he rapidly cussed back while pointing to the trio who were coming around.

He had a point not that she was going to admit it, "Fine…"

* * *

The two of them made quick work of the trio who had somehow gone back to being their rather unorganized and clumsy selves and as Israfel wound a whole roll of industrial strength steel cable over Mammoth and Gizmo, Raven had Jinx enclosed in four rings of dark energy.

Jinx had been actually too busy flirting with Israfel to even bother fighting with Raven who all she had to do in the end was to pry her off of the poor boy's right arm.

"No…please…don't leave me…lets be friends…I don't even know your name. Hey Goth girl don't hold him like that! Raven don't you even dare…oh…I'd get you for doing that!" yelled Jinx as she saw Raven grabbing onto Israfel's hand dragging him away while shooting her a raspberry.

Gizmo and Mammoth thankfully were unconscious to miss out on seeing their third member crying out kicking her legs around jealously like a love sick schoolgirl.

Furiously pulling her hood back so that she could glare at him properly in the eye, "Look here…let's get this straight! Firstly, you do not order me around and secondly, I am more then capable of fighting my battles on my own…" Raven uttered in her most irritated voice.

Israfel calmly uncovered his face and simply blinked before her, "I wasn't bossing your around Raven, I just thought that the pink haired girl would be a better opponent for you because I didn't want to intentionally hurt her because I still can't control my powers completely that well in this planet and also I do not engage in physical confrontations with girls. I then helped you in your battle because I didn't want to see you get hurt from the impending and unfair mêlée. I didn't help you because I doubted your abilities in battle."

It was now her turn to blink at him a couple of times.

"You…you…" snapped Raven, she couldn't find the right words to even allow Israfel to understand what she was feeling right then. But simultaneously Raven was also trying to fight down the blush that was threatening to explode on her cheeks.

No one or no boy had ever told her to her face that he didn't want to see her get hurt before

"Hey that's some fancy moves you got there…" commented Cyborg who was shooting off a few sparks of stray electric bolts to the air from his damaged right arm.

"Yes strange friend…you have helped us significantly." Starfire added while trying to get her vision back in focus.

"Hey…is it me or are you wearing Raven's outfit? Never knew she had one made out in black. Either that or Rae you're making a secret fortune selling out your used costume out to your fans…" commented Beast Boy as he poked his head over Cyborg's good shoulder.

Beast Boy later that night had to ride home in the T-car with a very uncomfortable oversized glowing black metal nut stuck in-between his lips.

Israfel and Raven were making their way back to the T-Tower flying side by side along the night sky. They hadn't said a single word since the station and had even kept a safe distance between each other as they flew. They didn't even bother to look at each other even once on the short trip back.

Israfel was giving Raven as much time as she needed to think up of something to either say to, shout to, yell to, or even ask him about anything.

Raven for her part was as confused as she could be, she needed a long mediation session after things were done that night.

Back in the tower or rather in the main meeting area sat the Titans, Cyborg who was busy repairing himself was eager to learn about this newcomer as was Beast Boy. That was of course if he had succeeded in begging Raven for forgiveness in his muffled voice. Starfire who sitting next to Israfel was staring rather blatantly into the darkness of his hood, wondering if she could hide something inside its vast nothingness.

"So mind telling us your story? Where you're from and all that…" as Cyborg got the ball started.

Israfel looked over his shoulder to Raven who felt that he was looking at her, "Don't look at me…tell your whole life story to them for all I care…"

She then shot a death look to the muffled whimpering Beast Boy beside her and he quieted down while changing into a green wide eye puppy.

With a small wave of his right hand the nut from Beast Boy's mouth instantly disappeared which earned Israfel one of Raven's death's looks and a series of thank yours that the changeling began shooting towards the Goth girl.

"My name is Israfel and my purpose here is well…I don't really know why I am here for I think I have no purpose. And no Beast Boy I did not take Raven's clothes this are my own clothes. It just happens to be the same design but of different color. I actually came from Azarath and that is all I can say at this moment. I hope that you can respect my wishes not to explain any further…"

"Okay…I've heard weirder introductions before and since it's getting late why don't we get some sleep and maybe continue this tomorrow…?" suggested Cyborg.

Starfire and Beast Boy made no objections and as the three of their eyes landed on Raven…

"Fine…he can stay for the night…" she finally relented.

"Master, are you sure this is wise course of action for us to take?"

"Of course, I have made him into my apprentice since you have failed to do yourself. He will bring the prophecy to light."

Raven couldn't sleep that night and as she twisted and turn she just couldn't fall to sleep. Frustrated she got up and decided that maybe a nice cup of hot tea would help ease her frustrations.

She had no problems with the darkness of the Tower, since it was around 2am no one would be awake to disturb her in her quest for making some tea.

As she quietly made her way into the kitchen she was rather surprised to see that the kettle already had some hot water in it. She didn't care to figure why that was but instead she tried to look for her usual mug.

Raven's mouth scowled as she sipped her hot tea sitting by the kitchen's central island, her favorite black mug was missing.

She was getting bored with the silence which was a strange occurrence but figured that maybe a little channel surfing would get her bored to sleep.

So as she made her way to the common room Raven was startled to see a dark figure standing by the window looking out to the moon.

Sensing her distinctive presence inside the room, "Not able to sleep, Raven?" Israfel whispered out.

Raven slowly walked over to the window to see just what was so wonderful to look at and saw nothing out of the ordinary but what she did see was that Israfel was currently holding her favorite mug in his hands, she cursed him mentally.

"Sorry…I didn't know that this was your favorite mug." he casually said out while staring out to the night sky.

'He can read my mind? No one's been able to do that…' Raven then raised a brow, "You're a mind reader aren't you?"

Israfel simply nodded, "I'm going for a refill you want me to bring the pot over?"

Raven said nothing.

She was slightly taken aback to see the still piping hot kettle slowly floating over with apparent ease to where they stood and watched it as it poured a little of its hot contents into his cup.

"Sure you don't want some?" he asked her again.

Raven this time stuck her cup out a little, and let the kettle refill her cup with hot water. She barely noticed the black sparkles of energy that was actually holding the kettle up and by the way how Israfel's expression was so relaxed she figured that he must be very in control of his powers.

"Not really…it took me a whole month to just get it that controlled. It seems that our powers go a little haywire in this dimension in the beginning. "

"Stop reading my thoughts…" she warned him.

Raven saw the small grin Israfel wore on his face, "Sorry but I just couldn't help myself…I just hear it so clearly inside my mind…it's as if you were talking to me."

After a bout of silence between the two, "Why didn't you say everything out to them? You know where you're from and all? You could have told them everything about me just to spite me…" asked Raven.

Israfel looked over to the lilac colored pajama clad girl currently being bathed in moonlight and cocked his head, "Well it's your privacy. I mean you didn't tell it to them yourself so I had no right to tell them for you. And for the record I don't spite my friends."

Raven lifted her cup to her lips and drank a little of the liquid down and once she had done so, "Thank you…" she softly said out.

He smiled a small smile for her, "You're most welcomed and I think you're lucky that you've made friends so quickly…you're the first person who has actually talked to me in a very long time." Israfel said out to her in a hushed tone.

"Trust me it's not all what it seems, I ain't exactly the friendliest person to talk to if you hadn't notice…" she commented back monotonously.

"I don't think so…I think you're a real friendly person to talk too…" he contradicted.

Raven peered over her raised mug, there was a certain part of him that was so recognizable but she couldn't point it out. As she studied his face under the moonlight she couldn't help but noticing that he was very good looking.

"I'm sure you say that to all the Goth girls you met…" she replied him sarcastically.

"No…not really, I only compliment people from what I've seen for myself and trust me Raven I hope you don't mind me saying this but you can be a really friendly person if you want to, you have those emotions inside of you. It's just you don't show them out that much, I know your reasons for doing so but it's just so sad. I've seen your 'happy' Raven smile a few times while I was in your mind and it really suits you if you did it for real. I really like the way how you smile…it's really beautiful."

Raven kept her cup up around her lips just a little longer…she had actually drank up all her tea a few moments ago. She did this just to hide the tinge rushing over to her cheeks from hearing his comments.

Raven didn't know why but this was the second time in as many short hours she could recall that she had blushed for his sake.


End file.
